Understanding your Scrum team’s velocity will unlock your ability to manage your team and stakeholders effectively, especially when shifting to a more agile workflow. This post will explain what velocity is, how it is measured, and why it is important.

What is velocity?

Velocity is the number of points completed by a Scrum team during a sprint. Let’s break that down a little:

The number of points: All tasks within a sprint should be designated a point value. Point values are most commonly assigned according to the Fibonacci sequence (1, 2, 3, 5, 8… etc). Instead of just using time, (which for many people is easier to conceptualize), a team should be agreeing the “story point value” which is a combination of complexity, time, and unknowns.

Completed by a Scrum team: Once a ticket is complete, the point value of that ticket counts toward the ticket velocity. If a ticket is half done, the point value does not count toward the total. According to traditional Scrum philosophy, when carrying a ticket forward, the full value of the ticket should be carried forward without change.

During a sprint: This is the timebox of the work, or the iteration, called “sprints”. Sprints are always the same duration; this is so you are comparing apples to apples, so to speak, when understanding your team’s velocity.

How is it measured?

After each sprint, or iteration, the total number of completed tasks are added up. That is your Scrum team’s velocity.

When you use a software development tool like Jira, it will automatically calculate your team’s velocity for you in the Reports section of your project.

Velocity assumes that your team remains consistent for a period of time. It is always a sum of the collective work your team achieves.

Over time, (at least 2-3 sprints), it will become clear how many story points a given team can complete during the iteration.

Why don’t I calculate individual velocity? This is a common question. According to the Scrum methodology, the answer is because Scrum is always team-based activity.

Why is velocity important?

Velocity is important for several reasons:

For Scrum teams, it allows you to understand how much work to allocate to a given sprint. In addition, it gives the team something to strive toward improving collectively.

For stakeholders such as clients or product owners, having an estimated backlog and a consistent team velocity allows them to understand when the queue of work will be completed.

Additional reading:

> Learn more about Kanban boards in What is a Kanban board and when should I use it?
> Learn how to design and create a Jira workflow in How do I design and create a Jira workflow